Quill feeding apparatus



June 24, 1958 D. F. PEARCE ET AL 2,840,116

QUILL FEEDING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 15, 1956 INVENTORS, D/xon. E Pearce,

y Rgy L. Freeman ATTORNEY Z,840,l l6 Patented. June Zfl,

nit d Q .84am x I e QUILL FEEDING-APPARATUS Dixon F. Pearce,Greenville,,and Ray L. Freeman,

' Roebuck, S. C'. Application" September 13, 1956, Serial No. 609,753"

' .1 zoni c1-..139-5z4s This inventionrelates' to. apparatus andv methodfor handling filling so as to facilitate the operation ofjfilling loombatteries and especially to an apparatus. and method for tiltablypositioningta quill box for feeding. quills by gravity: ft'o a positionofready access for the operation of'm'anually filling. a loom battery.

. may be used without rearrangement ofthe quills stacked .Eiguregllis aperspective view showin'ga quill? '7 apparatus, constructed'inaccordance with the presentin? vention, operably associated with thebattery endf'of". a loom. I I I t, Figure 2 is a transversesectionalviewof'the; tiltable quill box supporting meansshown in Figure 1, and,

Many mills are equipped with devices for doffing-full bobbins in aplurality of superposed-rowsin quillv boxes. The Abbott quiller,equipped with the Abbott automatic Figure 3 is a perspective'viewvshowing. quill feeding apparatus constructed in accordance with thepresent invention in position to' receive a quill box..

Referring moreparticularl'y to thedrawin'g, thebattery end of ai loomprovided with an automatic bobbin change ing mechanism is designated atA. ,The'battery of the bobbin stacker, which is manufactured and sold byAbbott Machine Co., Inc, Wilton, New Hampshire, is such'a device. Thismachine is adapted to dofl horizontally positioned quills automaticallyand-in uniformrows. suen dolfingis accomplished by mechanical meanswhiehautomatically stacksthe quills in e'lon'gated open-topped boxes. Inaddition to the open top, these boxes are equipped with an open side forthe introduction of quills therein. These full boxes are normally placedin a position adjacent the looms for filling the loom batteries withoutfurther modification. This apparatus and method has many disadvantages.There is a tendency for the full quills to be shaken out of the openside of the quill box, due to vibration of the loom during weaving andthus be damaged by being thrown onto the floor of the mill. There is afurther disadvantage in that it is difiicult to manually select aparticular bobbin without also grasping adjacent bobbins thus tending todamage the filling on adjacent quills or bobbins, and the full bobbinsare especially difficult to reach when the supply in the quill box isnearly exhausted.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a gravity fedquill discharge means so that a quill may be easily picked up withoutdamaging the filling on adjacent quills.

Another object of this invention is to provide positioning means forreceiving quill stacking boxes directly from a quiller or the like so asto provide ready access to the quills therein.

Another object of this invention is to provide means for receiving quillboxes and the like and for positioning same adjacent the battery of aloom, being so constructed that tiltable positioning of the means ispossible and the possibility of dislodging quills due to vibration ofthe loom is obviated.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a quill dischargemeans which is simple and economical in construction which will providea plurality of stacked quills adjacent a loom battery in position forready access for a manual battery filling operation.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a rack or frame whichwill allow quills to remain in the box in which they are stacked by theAbbott automatic stacker until they are placed in their frame so thatwhen placed in an upright position they will flow into the dispensingspout for easy access to the operator or battery filler in a manualbattery filling operation.

A further object of this invention is to provide a loom is designated atB and the frame or rack which forms the subject of the present;inventionis designated at C. [The .frame- C is pivotally supported. asat 10. on the platform'll which is, positioned on'a suitablesupport 12.The support 1 2 is positioned in a bracket 1 3;whic'h is suitablysecured to the fioorQofLthe mill' asby bolts 14.

The'jsuuport 12 ispositioned immediately behind' the loom so; that theframe C,.when.in raisedposition as shown' in-Figures land 2', willbepositioned closely admethod of filling a loom battery so that the quillboxes jacent' and slightly above and behind' the loom battery B. Itwillbenoted that a sleeve 10a, which issuitably secured to the/frame Cas by welding, surrounds the shaft 10 and is thus pivotally mountedthereon. A projecting portion 10b is also suitably carried by the quillbox and is adapted to bear against the support 12 so as to limit theextent to which the frame C can be tilted forwardly. It will'be notedthat the platform 11 is constructed of suitable structural shapes andthat a laterally extending, horizontally disposed member 11a is suitablysecured as by welding to the support 12 at its forward end and to alongitudinal, horizontally disposed member 11b at its rear end. Themembers 11a and 11b are supported in their horizontal position by thebrace 11c which is suitably secured, as by Welding, to the support 12 onone end and to the member 1111 at its other end.

Referring now to Figure 3, the frame C is shown in a horizontal positionprior to being raised to gravity feed quills for ready access in thebattery filling operation. The frame C consists essentially of asubstantially rectangular frame portion formed by suitable structuralshapes in the form of angles 15, 16, 17, and 18, and a pair of uprightmembers 19 and 20 and a side portion 21 extending at right angles to therectangular frame portion serve as a support for a front side 22 of theframe C.

It will be noted that this construction provides two open ends for thequill box as well as one open side and an open bottom portion. Byreferring especially to Figure 2, it will be seen that the front portion22 of the quill box C does not extend entirely across the top of theframe members 23 and 25, but terminates so as to provide a passageway22a for bobbins to pass by gravity into the discharge spout or hopper26. I

The quill discharge means or spout consists essentially of a pair ofparallel forwardly extending side portions 26a and 26b having connectionwith the member 22 adjacent the passage 22a provided therein. Theforwardly projecting members 26a and 26b are spanned across their frontedges by the member 260 which is provided with a cutout portion 26d toaccommodate the left hand of an operator as will be described more fullyEiitbut portion 22b below. A bottom 26c is provided, to serve as asupport for the bobbins, as well as a curved inner member 26f whichserves as a means of raising the bobbins E a um-dis anc bove the b tcm..Zfi s that y m y. be d bvltha'operatorif illfb'oxF into which.th'quills' E are'criginall'y sxjic asishown is amed are quillboxCiv'ithout restacking the quills E, It be noted that the quillbox Fisprovided, with an ii to permitthe new; of quillsi through the Za fandtothje discharge spout 26. The um 156x '0 smrovided at its' forwardportion with a to g-m vinserting the, ,quill box F. ,A handle 27 isprov; r the quillboxiC to a, forwardly tiltable Itiflwillbeynotedithatithe bobbins E areso' positioned in"the''bobliin dischargespout 26'that1they may bejrepdilyigtasped bytheleft hand of, thebatteryfillerl' adapted to be placed between the ,us'ual bobb fl g lide's 28. and 29of the battery forthe change, operation. ,7

Inopei'atiomjtherefore," full bobbins are brought from the quillerorspinning frame inithe quill boxes F into \vhichthey weredoifcdandplaced-within the quill box C1] quill box C 'is then raisedmanually by the same 21 untilithe box 'is inclined forwardly as shown inFigures land 2,; It is apparent thatthe full quills E will Lbefedbygravity fromthe quill box C through the passageway 22a and into thequill discharge spout 26 for easy,acce'ss by theifleft hand of thebattery filler.

While'a preferredqembodiment of the invention has been described usingspecific terms, such description is for illustrative purposes only, andit is to be understood that changes and variations may be made withoutdeparting from the. spirit or scope of the following claims.

Whatis claimedis:

. Apparatus for receiving an open top quill box lines in Figure '3,ispositioned.

passageway between said frame and said frame to saidmeans;supporting.s'aid"frame, whereby said to pi'ovide' forthe'conveniencelof the frame maybe tilted ,to a substantially verticalposition so that thequills maybe gravity fed into said dischargeportion. l

2....Apparatusjifor;receiving an :open top; quill box carrying aplurality of full quills and for storing said quills in stacked relationabove and adjacent the battery of a loom including, a substantiallyrectangular elongated frame adapted to receive said quill box, a quilldischarge porti onscarried adjacent one end of said frame, a quillpassageway between 'saidrframe and said quill discharge portionjmeanssupporting'said frame in a horizontal position, hingemeanspivotally attaching said frame to said means supporting said frame belowand adjacent said quill discharge port on, and means for restraining the1,639,843. Finch Aug. 23, 1927 1,714,469 Hoffman -May 21, 1929 FOREIGNPATENTS 417,956 Great Britain Oct. 16, 1934

